Wednesday, September 29, 2010

With me away from my home, I could not post much. Here I am posting some more Rangolis. Since the festival Dashera is coming closer, I am will try to post more. Mother Durga -The Goddess who is worshipped for ten days during this festival likes Lotuses. Lotuses are symbol of purity, detached from the worldly things and spirituality. In cities where it is difficult to get the real lotuses for offering to The Mother, we can at least draw a Rangoli of Lotuses. Isn't it? Here is one- small and easy..

This is 15 to 1 dots -straight leaving one on each side for each row.

Here is a better view.

I have drawn the lines in angular form, they can be drawn in slightly round or curved fashion while joining the dots and the design will look a bit different. Just try this and let me know please.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Here I am posting one more in the series of Blouses in Fashion. As per the latest trends these days, Batik blouses in florescent colours are quite in demand. Generally they are teamed with any plain or small printed saris.

I had a Batik sari with me bought in one of the sales. Its pure cotton. Its unusual colour combination caught my eye and the price was reasonable. So I bought it. But it did not have a blouse to go with it. First I thought I would have to settle for some plain blouse in contrast colours. But when I went to the shop, my eyes caught this piece-ready-made and excellent match to my sari as if it was made for it. The blouse is very simple in cut or style. I think with batik one should not go for something too fancy or stylish looking blouse especially in cottons. after all they are meant for hot summers.

This is the cotton sari-purple with white and pink floral design. This is the design on pallu.

I loved this floral vine design.

A light shade of pink here and there added a touch of colour to other wise very simple design.

Another look at the design.

Now here is the blouse. I just could not believe my eyes when I saw it. It suited so well with my sari-the colours and the design.

A closer look.

This is very simple blouse with a round neck.

Other shades in blue and green perhaps even orange (pinkish) were also available. All almost looking florescent.

So what do you say? I felt very lucky to have got this blouse with out much difficulty. well Lady Luck was smiling on me that day other wise I have a real trouble in finding right coloured/shaded blouse for most of my saris.

I have been very busy travelling extensively to those places from where my ancestors have come from. It was really fun on one hand going around little towns and villages, rich with culture, traditions, temples and centuries old history behind them. The greenery, acres and acres of green fields, orchards, gushing rivers, rivulets, canals and water bodies,temples at every nook and corner all picturesque with an overcast sky, drizzling now and then. Some of the most famous personalities of literary, music other art forms are from here. So are the most revered Vedic Pundits, astrologers, philanthropists, freedom fighters-the list is end less. The best educational centers were from these regions once and still are the best.

It was very enriching experience for me, interacting with people from various backgrounds. I learnt a lot.. I bought lot of books on spirituality, astrology, those who write our almanacs known as Panchangam, ayurveda etc.

It was really a great experience, visiting ancient temples, knowing about our rich traditions and the scientific reasons behind them. It was a feast for my eyes as well as my soul, seeing all those green fields, rivers and rivulets, well Nature at its best.

On the other hand it was also nostalgic, meeting those who remembered my ancestors, learning about my roots. I felt very sad as to why we had to leave such a beautiful and peaceful places to live in so called modern towns and cities full of pollution-both of environmental as well as other ones.

Oh by the way the cuisines also are different in each region, each having something unique to offer but at the same time there are many similarities. I know most of them, but just refreshed my mind with the techniques by observing the most experienced ladies who churn out a yummy fare in minutes and serve you lovingly. They have not yet forgotten our Indian hospitality- welcoming even a stranger with so much love.

I not only collected these recipes but also so many traditional Rangoli designs. I have been wanting this for a long time and at last, my dream comes true.

I will be sharing all of this. But the major constraint is time as I have to travel again. Let us see. I will try to keep in touch with you all as I have lots and lots to share.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Friends in my previous post I have talked about the Benarasi Jacquard-how it is is being used for patch/appliqué work on saris as well as for matching blouses. Apart from that women here are going in for teeming plain or even printed saris with such blouses either matching or contrasting colours.

Here I found a perfect match for one of my saris.

This is the light blue coloured sari with dark blue border. The sari is made of fine cotton and is from Bengal. The border also has zari(gold thread). It has dark blue butis with thread on pallu and all over the sari. Above is the pallu.

Here you can see the sari with border at the bottom side.

It has border on both sides-top and bottom.

This is the Benarasi jacquard blouse I purchased-ready made. I just loved the combination of light and dark blue perfectly matching my sari. I also love the paisley design

So here is the sari with the blouse. Something bright and different. One can change the look of sari with a different blouse. instead of plain cotton blouse of dark or light blue colour, I went for this. Isn't it looking beautiful?

Monday, September 6, 2010

I have this habit of collecting various items of jewellery separately and piece them together to form a set. It is very costly to go in for a complete jewellery set and also most times we may not like all the items in the set. Whenever I visit the shops or visit the various trade exhibitions just browse through the items on display. I carefully pick and choose various items like ear rings, necklaces, bangles, pendants, anklets etc and then set them together. Most of the time I am successful in picking very unique items. But then it takes a long time to match various pieces to from a set and many a time, I end up without finding all the pieces. It is also difficult to remember all those that I have so that I buy the other matching pieces. Any way the challenge and fun is in making up sets like that rather than buying sets with unwanted pieces.

Since I have been making my own jewellery, I have started carefully collecting, single pendants and pendant sets. Pendant sets consist of a pendant and ear rings, sometime finger rings too. So I will show you some of my collections. Mind you my collection is very affordable, unique and elegant. That's what I feel. :) :) . Here is one variety:

Meenakari as you know is a very intricate and beautiful art . I love the intricate and very delicate designs. Here is my post on Meenakari:

This is a very traditional colour scheme of green and red. Red is symbol of auspicious or good events and green prosperity, fertility etc. It never goes out of fashion. These days this is much in vogue. Even beads are of jade, ruby or garnet and pearls are worn in combination with green and red pendants, ear rings bangles, anklets and so on. So I picked up this. This can be worn on a gold chain or teamed with the beads I mentioned above.

What I like in this was the very intricate, delicate but traditional design which never goes out of fashion. I love Lotus designs. They are symbol of purity, spirituality prosperity etc. This is a very rare and unique piece. Except for the lotus, the other part of design, thats the vines remind me of Moghul designs of Tajmahal. Well is a blend of Indo-Persian design.

This is another set of red and white. I liked the floral pattern. This is not as delicate as the other one and the finish is also not that good. It has two rings, so the beads or chain need to be hung from both the rings.

Here are the matching ear rings. I have not yet decided the beads to go with it. Pearls, Green jade or red garnet or a combination of all may look good. I will just have to experiment around a bit, before I find the combination to my liking. I will post the final product after I finish it.

So How do you like this? I feel these are great for long time keeping as they go well with cottons or silks and even on a simple gold chain would look great.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Friends I was busy shopping for some clothes and dress materials along with embroidery materials beads etc. Well I have purchased some blouses for my saris. You know though I stitch them myself, sometimes I am tempted to go in for ready made blouses too. It saves time and energy for me as they are ready to wear.

These days we have so many varieties of blouses-cotton, silk, plain, simple, embroidered and so on. Ethnic blouses are always a rage. These days kalamkari, batik, bandhni, blouses embroidered with zari, silk threads, zardosi, kundans etc are in fasion. Mostly these blouses are just stitched with wide margins and available in small, medium and large sizes. We can alter them to our measurements quite easily, if we have a sewing machine at home.

Ok now for the latest trends in ethnic blouses for saris-- These days Benarasi jacquard material is being used for making blouses. these blouses are worn either in matching colours or in contrasting colours. The fabric can also be multicoloured which can be worn with many saris. people are going in for contrast coloured blouses than matching ones. The fabric is attached to the sari as border and also as patches of different shapes. Further, These patches are embellished with kundans or coloured stones, antique beads or coins etc.

I have stitched border cut from of bluish green Benarasi jacquard fabric to my pinkish red sari. The colour of the sari in this photograph is looking different from what it actually is. I could not get the original colour in spite of trying hard, I kept the border small and also kept it simple so that it can be worn to work place. I wanted to add kundans but in the end did not as I wanted to keep it very simple.

I stitched the border at both edges of the sari-top and bottom and the edge of pallu also.

The blouse is also stitched from the same fabric but simple. It has got sleeves (normal length)which are not visible in the picture.

It would have looked grand had I added some kundans and zardosi. But I preferred a simple one which is easy to manage and also can be worn to work place.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Do let me know please. Keep a watch on my blog as I am going to post more.......